The central issue for most Washingtonians is their right to know what's in their food. The Agribusiness Giants are throwing in big$ in the hopes that the same lies that worked for the 'No' side in California will work again. 3 days out and the Yes side is holding their lead apparently. Win or lose the Yes side is putting on a huge free party [see details here]. Last year the good folks in Washington state used the initiative process to legalize pot, now they're set to give 'ol Big Ag. a black eye and maybe start a domino effect. It might be quite the party, if i lived closer i'd go.
Industrial agriculture, not unlike the Evil Empire generally, is under attack from all sides. Just a few days ago Mexico halted all GMO corn from being planted. Mexico is now the only country in North America to ban the cultivation of a GM crop. Neither the U.S nor Canada has taken any action despite the fact that 64 countries have either banned GMOs or require them to at least be properly labeled. GMOs are designed by their bio-chemists to live through massive doses of pesticides thereby increasing the usage of them on the farm and farmers.
Mexico listened, experts have warned for years about the impact of top soil erosion caused by industrial farming practices, including heavy use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The chemical fertilizers and pesticides commercial farmers rely on to produce high single-crop yields kill many of the essential microorganisms and insects that aerate and build the soil, while heavy farming machinery destroys soil structure through compaction. Chemicals also leach water from the soil, making it salty and acidic and leaving crops vulnerable to drought. Dry and damaged soil erodes much faster than healthy soil.
This vote on Tuesday is a thin edge of the wedge type vote. If farmers were to stop planting GMOs, and make the transition to organic farming, farm and ranch land would become a significant sink or sequestration pool for greenhouse gasses, literally sucking excess greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere and sequestering them safely in the soil, where they belong. As well, biodiverse organic farms produce more food and higher incomes than industrial monocultures. Mitigating climate change, conserving biodiversity and increasing.
